No one tells it like David McCullough

by Mr. Sheehy

I just listened to David McCullough’s 1776 on CD and would like to offer an unapologetic and enthusiastic recommendation for anyone to read the book through this medium. I began consuming books-on-tape while exercising as a motivation to exercise, and it has greatly worked. I am so eager to move on with the book that I prioritize exercise–something I have not done in far too long. McCullough, some may know, narrated Ken Burns’s Civil War series, and for more than a decade his voice has possessed legendary status in my mind. Back in my radio announcing days I looked him up thinking he was a great voice over artist or announcer, and I was surprised to discover he was “just” a scholar and author.

Regarding 1776, which many consider a kind of companion work to the Pulitzer Prize winning John Adams, my only frustration with it was that it wasn’t 1776-1783. I am profoundly uneducated on the actual happenings of the American Revolution and would have loved to hear McCullough’s unrivaled voice tell me the entire thing. He is an amazing guy, so amazing that I now actually want to read John Adams, despite the vast separation of its covers.

6 Comments to “No one tells it like David McCullough”

You’ve touched a nerve. I have all of McCullough’s works. I even trace my initial interest in law school back to reading John Adams while I was still living in Boston. That book got me interested in the nation’s history, which got me interested in the Constitution, and then the law …

Now I’ve read a biography of nearly every Framer.

There is an unabridged audio version of John Adams, if you don’t want to buy the book. However–and this is true with every single book McCullough has written–you can hear his voice in the words on the page. It’s his gift. You will find reading the book to be as much of a joy as listening to it.

I can definitely see that I would enjoy reading McCullough, but I just don’t think I could hear someone else read him. I was definitely disappointed to find that he did not read John Adams–perhaps he was too busy with the Pulitzer circuit back then.

Who’s your favorite framer, then? I always have always had a Thomas Jefferson fascination, especially since he was so young in 1776, but after listening to how prominent John Hancock was, I am curious to know more about him.

Oh, I didn’t realize McCullough didn’t do the reading of the audio book. That does put a different spin on it. I wouldn’t bother with the audio book at all, then. 🙂

John Adams is the favorite–hands down. He was the first one I read about, and he never got displaced. No other Framer had a more thoughtful, principled, and articulate understanding of the nature of man, the role of government, and the risks of tyranny.

Hamilton is a very close second, however. The man veritably INVENTED the American economy–not to mention his work on The Federalist Papers. And he was incredibly young at the time, too.

I grew a progressively stronger aversion to Thomas Jefferson–even after living in Virginia (where people still refer to him as “Mr. Jefferson”). He was certainly gifted with prose, but the substance was usually lacking (until Adams filled in the gaps).

[…] it’s one of the best of these, David McCullough, that brings this to mind. I mentioned that I read 1776 recently, and as I return to my memories of it, this remains one of my favorite paragraphs. It is that […]

[…] is that at the same time, while exercising, I was listening to David McCullough’s 1776. As I’ve mentioned, I loved 1776, and my admiration of McCullough was a topic of a few conversations with my […]